Friday, August 5, 2011

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It is hard to believe that a widow who was a better hostess than cook, created a publishing dynasty based on recipes designed to lift the spirits and please the stomachs of a Depression weary nation. Irma Rombauer was that woman. Her cookbook, the Joy of Cooking, written following the suicide of her husband during the Great Depression, went on, in eight editions, to sell 18 million copies. She was born to a wealthy German immigrant family and raised in comfort. While she never had a job, her exposure to the trappings of wealth and extensive travel led her to consider herself a Renaissance woman. Her experiences were varied and, prior to her marriage, she had a brief assignation, that her biographer actually calls a tryst, with the writer Booth Tarkington. In retrospect, she probably found St. Louis to be a bit confining. She completed the cookbook in 1931 but she had to use her own money to have it published. It did not appear nationally until 1936, when it was distributed by Bobbs-Merrill. Her cookbook was unusual in that it was filled with wit and conviviality, as well as recipes that appealed to time-pressed housewives. She knew her audience and her cookbook changed with the times. During the depression she understood the struggle women had putting inexpensive food on their tables and when WWII shortages affected the ability of women to feed their families, hers was the first major cookbook to address the problems of rationing. Through it all, her cookbooks reflected her own sense of fun. In 1951, her daughter Marion assumed control of the family franchise and added a sense conscientiousness to the book that appealed to women of the time. The two attributes were combined in the 75th edition of the cookbook that was released in 2006. It's entirely fitting that Irma S. Rombauer claims 8th place on the Gourmet Live list of 50 Women Game-Changers in Food.

I've chosen one of her earliest recipes to represent the work she's done. It is a slightly different take on shrimp cocktail that is both interesting and delicious. While it appeared in the 1931 edition of the Joy of Cooking, it has recently been revived and popularized by Chef Jose Andres at his restaurant America Eats. Here's the recipe.

Directions:1) To make the grapefruit dressing: Strain the grapefruit juice into a large bowl and add the vinegar and mustard. Add the olive oil in a slow stream, continuously whisking to emulsify. Add salt to taste and store in the refrigerator.2) To cook the shrimp: Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Have a bowl of salted ice water at the ready. Add the shrimp to the boiling water and cook for about 1 minute (cooking time will depend on the size of the shrimp). Remove the shrimp from the boiling water as soon as they are cooked and immediately place them in the salted ice water. When completely cool, quickly remove the shrimp from the water to prevent oversaturation.3) To serve the shrimp: Marinate the shrimp in the grapefruit dressing for a few minutes. Arrange 5 shrimp on a salad plate. Add 2 grapefruit segments per plate and spoon more dressing on top. Dust with paprika, and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and sea salt. Serve immediately.Yield: 4 servings.

The following bloggers are also paying tribute to Irma S. Rombauer this week. I hope you'll visit all of them.

Next week we will highlight the food and recipes of Hannah Glasse and Mrs. Beeton. It will be really interesting to see what everyone comes up with. If you'd like to join us please email me for additional information. Everyone is welcome.

Mary...such a wonderful woman Irma was to come up with such a great shrimp and grapefruit cocktail...I can imagine how delish this cocktail would be :) Thanks for sharing with us this great cocktail and have a nice weekend :)

Irma was my Mark Bittman. I received a copy of her cookbook when I got married in 1974 and it soon became my book of cooking information as well as recipes. I still think her Brownie's Cockaigne are the best.

I love the idea of reviving old recipes. The funny thing is, this one seems absolutely contemporary. I can see why it's being served at America Eats. I've fallen in love with sherry vinegar ever since I bought some for making gazpacho. Great post.

Mary, I am so enjoying your series. A must stop every week. All I know of her is the brief scenes in Julie and Julia and I think I made potato pancakes from the book once about 20 years ago. Looking forward to next week

The Joy of Cooking is one of the first cookbooks I ever bought, and I think I probably made my first recipe from it... It still has a place on my kitchen shelf... Lovely recipe! Great job with it, Mary!

Isn't that interesting? Shrimp and grapefruit! Well, it is citrus and we do put lemon on fish and shellfish! This is a great twist! I also think it interesting that her 'vintage' recipe has come back and again being used ... as the saying goes, 'Everything old is new again'! Great post, Mary!

That looks so refreshing! Love the idea of Rombauer and the way she changed the way we cooked ... not in a big flashy way but in an honest thoughtful way. No wonder everyone has her book on their shelves!

Sounds perfect - very refreshing, as others have said. I remember my mom had a Joy of Cooking cookbook that had been passed down to her - it was ancient and battered from all the use it got. How interesting to learn the back story behind it.

Well, to tell you the truth, I don't think I would go for this combo. Maybe I have lived in Turkey for too long because they don't like fruit with savoury combinations ..but isn't the shrimp taste too delicate to have the tangy grapefuit alongside?

The Joy of Cooking was one of the first cookbooks I ever owned, given to me by my mother before I left home. I have cooked so many recipes from it over the years and always refer to it when I am cooking meat. This looks like the perfect recipe to serve it the summer and I like the unexpectedness of the grapefruit.

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